Who wins the toss-up for the most shadowy and shadiest conspirator?
Hynek and Quinn had thought the Air Force won that coin toss, but on Project Blue Book Season 2 Episode 3, they discovered another shadowy government organization who might have beat the Air Force by a mile.
But, not really. The Air Force still wins.
It’s surprising that the CIA would even allow anyone on their base to investigate anything. Heck, Hynek had never even heard of the CIA before Valentine told him and Quinn about their case.
So, when they arrived at Area 51 in Nevada, the duo was treated to a firsthand look at some of the inner workings of the CIA operations. Sort of.
The case of the Lubbock Lights and other unsolved cases were solved immediately when the two saw the secret aircraft the CIA had been building and testing.
But while the CIA was in charge of the airbase they were on and doing their thing, Hynek and Quinn discovered the Air Force owned a secret base right next to it.
The CIA might be shadowy and secretive, but the Air Force’s experiments seemed to be much more sinister.
And the idea of UFOs and alien life was becoming more of a reality than not.
The Air Force was using the CIA as their patsy, and the man in charge of these nefarious operations, isn’t Harding like we all think — it’s Valentine.
Harding is just following orders.
Unfortunately, for Hynek and Quinn, it appears they’re being drawn into something very ominous.
There are many threads in play at the moment.
First, we have aliens and UFOs hidden by the Air Force.
Then, we have secret military craft being built by the CIA.
And while those two organizations duke it out, the Soviets are right on top of it all — even without Susie’s help.
She might be trying to find out information surreptitiously through her relationship with Quinn, but her superiors have an even bigger coup with their CIA contact.
And I imagine it would be Daniel, who was more than willing to show he’s on Hynek and Quinn’s side in their fight to uncover the truth.
Quinn is going to be devastated when he learns who Susie really is. And if she follows her boss’s orders, he’s going to find out that truth sooner rather than later.
The thing with Quinn is that he loves excitement. It’s probably why he joined the Air Force in the first place.
Being teamed up with Hynek gives him excitement, especially when Hynek goes rogue.
But Susie gives him an excitement he’s been lacking for a long time. And he’s in love.
When and if she kidnaps him like her superior wants, Quinn is going to shut down.
Either that or he’s going to use his rage as a catalyst to bring down the Air Force and any other organization he feels was part of the reason for Susie’s actions.
He won’t be seeing straight after this.
And he might not be alone.
He and Harding already have a strong relationship, and since Harding is beginning to question his own actions, he and Quinn might end up working together to expose everything and everyone.
Right now, Harding is caught in a conflict between his own religious beliefs and the reality of a job he so dearly loves.
He confirmed the existence of alien life without coming right out and saying it when he was in the confessional.
It also seems that he’s not fully on board with whatever the Air Force is doing with these aliens.
His flashbacks to the “alien autopsy” were revealing and might have disposed of the myth that the little green men were Josef Mengele experiments.
They very well might have been Air Force experiments but not on innocent children as Valentine wants him to believe, but instead on actual innocent aliens.
Maybe Valentine is feeding Harding a narrative to keep Harding in line and onboard.
It makes sense because, with something that huge, only a tight-knit group of people are going to know about it.
Harding may be at the top of the loop, but he’s not in the inner sanctum.
He’s going to realize he’s been lied to and used just like Quinn, even though it’s in a different way.
So, it won’t be surprising when they start working together.
And joining them, of course, will be Hynek.
He’ll hop on board not only because the idea of exposing the truth is an addictive adventure (although he’ll be disappointed about Harding not being the bad guy), but also because he’s going to need to protect Mimi.
Mimi is getting in way over her head.
In a way, she’s betraying Hynek the way Quinn is being betrayed by Susie and Harding is being betrayed by Valentine.
She’s enthusiastic about her UFO group and wholeheartedly believes that what she’s doing is helping her husband.
But she’s revealing information she shouldn’t be revealing.
She has no idea who Evan really is, or who he’s working for.
For all we know, he could be a Soviet spy, so all of her revelations from her eavesdropping could be falling straight into the enemy’s lap.
It’s one thing for her to share information about cases already “solved”, but to talk about current cases is a big mistake.
And when Valentine finds out she’s been leaking this stuff, she’s going to be in big trouble.
Hynek will need every resource he has to save her, and that’s where his new alliance (if that’s how it turns out) will come to play.
As far as this UFO war Valentine wants to start, I’m not sure what that is, but it’s intriguing nonetheless!
Over to you!
What did you think about “Area 51”?
Will Harding team up with Quinn and Hynek?
Is Evan a spy?
Will Susie really kidnap Quinn?
Hit the comments and share your thoughts!
If you need to catch up, you can watch Project Blue Book online right here via TV Fanatic!
Lisa Babick is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.